Oman

An Egyptian real estate tycoon jailed for the murder of a Lebanese pop diva in Dubai almost a decade ago was freed as part of a presidential pardon for hundreds of detainees. State television said president Abdel Fattah El Sisi pardoned a total of 502 prisoners to mark Eid Al …

Diplomacy remains a priority in resolving the Qatar crisis, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Saturday, but reiterated that mediation efforts to resolve the dispute had been undermined by public disclosure of demands made on Doha by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt. “The mediators’ …

RIYADH // A suicide bomber blew himself up near the Grand Mosque in Mecca as police disrupted a plot to target the holiest site in Islam just as Ramadan ends, Saudi security forces said on Saturday. The interior ministry said it launched a raid around Jeddah, as well as two …

ABU DHABI // Qatar has been presented with a list of 13 demands by the bloc of Arab countries that have severed ties with Doha.They include the closure of the new Turkish military base in the emirate and shutting down the Al Jazeera news network. The list was reportedly presented …

KUWAIT CITY // Acting as a mediator, Kuwait has presented Qatar a list of demands from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt, the four Arab nations that cut ties with Qatar in early June. Here’s the demands: 1. Curb diplomatic ties with Iran and close its diplomatic missions there. …

Paris // France no longer sees the departure of Bashar Al Assad as a priority in the Syrian conflict, president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, making the policy official for the first time. The new French leader said instead that fighting extremist groups such as ISIL had to be the …

Dubai-based Damac Properties has been chosen by the Government of Oman to develop its $1 billion Port Sultan Qaboos waterfront project through a joint venture with Omran, the government’s investment, growth and development arm. Mina Sultan Qaboos Waterfront is being redeveloped into an integrated tourist port and lifestyle destination that …

MOSUL // The Iraqi military said on Wednesday it had begun a push towards the historic mosque in Mosul’s Old City, where ISIL is mounting a brutal last stand in a labyrinthe of narrow lanes and booby-trapped houses. Iraqi Special Operations Forces were 200 to 300 metres away from the …

MOSUL // The Iraqi military said on Wednesday it had begun a push towards the historic mosque in Mosul’s Old City, where ISIL is mounting a brutal last stand in a labyrinthe of narrow lanes and booby-trapped houses. Iraqi Special Operations Forces were 200 to 300 metres away from the …

Oil-rich Gulf countries, which for decades have attracted millions of foreign workers thanks to their reputation as tax-free havens, aim to introduce value-added tax in 2018 to plug budget gaps. On top of administrative and technical hurdles, however, the project now faces an unprecedented diplomatic crisis after Saudi Arabia, the …